Improvement in spring-braces



s. T. BRUCE Spring-Braces.

Patented May 12, 1874.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SIDNEY T. BRUCE, OF MARSHALL, MISSOURI.

IMPROVEMENT IN SPRING-BRACES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 150,747, dated May 12, 1874 application filed December 13, 1873.

Marshall, in the county of Saline, in the State of Missouri, have invented a new and Improved Carriage-Brace; and I do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and

exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of thisspecification, in which Figure l is a side elevation of a carriagebody mounted on springs, and having my improved brace applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the brace proper detached from the carriage-body. Fig. 3 is a like View of the slotted guide-plate.

In the class of carriage-braces to which my invention belongs no adequate provision has been heretofore made for avoiding intermitting strain on the bolts that connect the body or springssto the axles, which occurs at each vertical movement of the body in consequence of the free end of the brace moving through the are of a circle. connecting the brace to the carriage-body adjustably, by means of a slotted or grooved plate, as hereinafter described.

In the drawing, the brace B is shown constructed in the usual manner, of a long bar, a, and a short bar, b, jointed to it near the middle of the former.' Short plates 0 are jointed to the front or opposite ends of bars a b, by meansof which the brace is attached I obviate the difficulty by 7 to both the upper and under half or portion of the elliptical forward spring D. Said bars may, however, be attached to the forward ends of the carriage-body A and reach E, if preferred. The upper and free end of the long bar a has a laterallyprojecting cross-pin, .r, and works in an open slot of the plate F, which is attached to the under side of the carriagebody. The front half of this plate is bent downward, as shown, to accommodate the pin m above it. Thus, the bottom and top of the front spring being both fastened to a common point behind, whatever depresses the body of the vehicle similarly depresses the free or upper end of the inflexible bar a, which cannot go forward so as to enforce a perpendicular motion of the carriage-body. The bars being fastened to the springs at the top and bottom in front, and to each other at the center, no force can project the springs either front or rear.

\Vhat I claim is-- x The combination, with the slotted guideplate attached to the springsupported carriage-bed, of the jointed brace B, provided with the pin 00, all as shown and described, to operate as specified.

SIDNEY T. BRUCE.

Vitnesses D. D. DUGGINS, M. J. ALEXANDER. 

